Mom: Birmingham Schools Response to Chickenpox Amounts to 'Bullying'

A Birmingham mom is upset that her son’s school sent him home Friday because he’s not vaccinated against chickenpox.

Sarah Donovan told the Detroit Free Press she was “beyond not happy” after her son, Michael, 11, was sent home.

The school district emailed hundreds of parents Thursday and told them to keep children home until April 14 if they haven’t been immunized against the highly contagious disease after three confirmed cases of chickenpox in the district.

One case each was confirmed among students at Pierce Elementary School, Derby Middle School and Seaholm High School. The email was sent after the earning that some unvaccinated students had “significant” contact with infected students.

Donovan said the policy violates federal privacy laws because it identifies to others the children who haven’t been vaccinated. She sent Michael to school Friday, preparing him in advance “that he might be called down to the office because of this,” she said.

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“We explained to him that Mom and Dad love him very much and this is our choice because we feel this is protecting him by not being vaccinated.”

Donovan questioned why chickenpox immunizations are required to begin with. “They’re saying it’s some deadly disease but, hello, we all had it,” she said.

She said the school’s policy is an over-reaction that amounts to “bullying,” and unfairly targets her son.

“My son is being singled out and we’re made to feel like were bad parents because we’ve decided not to vaccinate anymore.”

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Donovan said she not against vaccinations, but doesn’t think the state should require them. The chickenpox vaccine, varicella, is among those required before a child can enter kindergarten without a waiver.

Her three children have received some immunizations, she said, but she held off on others after one of them, a toddler at the time, began showing signs of autism. Health officials say there’s no link between vaccines and autism.

Chickenpox rates have declined steadily in Michigan since 2007, when 4,000 cases were reported, according to data from the state health department. Last year, there were only 715 cases.

Since Jan. 1, there have been more than 100 chickenpox cases in Michigan, with three dozen of them in southeast Michigan.

In the Birmingham school district, 87.3 percent of kindergartners have had both the two required varicella doses, said Shane Bis, administrator of Oakland County’s public health nursing service. Statewide, 93 percent of kindergartners are in compliance with the chickenpox vaccination requirements.